…it’s time to eat.

Last year at this time, if you had asked me to write an article about desserts, I would have responded with, “How about a dessert wine? Hmmmmm??"

I have never had a sweet tooth. Gourmet Beef Jerky is a much more delectable treat to me than a chocolate bar. After dinner, you would find me getting my sugars and carbohydrates from that perfectly poured martini or that dark and alluring foam-capped stout…then I got pregnant and really, really, really wanted a cinnamon roll and a piece of lemon meringue pie and some dark chocolate ice cream and maybe some Peanut Butter M&Ms.

Now in my eighth month of pregnancy, I have spent these booze-free months delving enthusiastically into the world of desserts, from the simple Sundae to the delicately flavored Tiramisu, from a flaming Bananas Foster to a fresh-from-the oven chocolate chip brownie, drizzled with caramel chocolate syrup and topped with homemade whipped cream.  My favorite desserts are not complicated. They do not assault you with sweetness. My favorite desserts are tart and bold in flavor but never overbearing.

Enter, the Lemon.

Is there any dessert flavor that invokes summer more than the Lemon? Lemonade actually tastes like summertime. Always welcome at the picnic table, this little citrus gives us Lemon Meringue Pie, Lemon Sherbet, Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, Lemon Cake, Cookies, Pudding and Tart. You can add lemon to nearly any ‘vanilla’ flavored dessert and it is instantly perkier.  But what I want right now, I mean right this very minute, is a Lemon Bar.

Oh, the Lemon Bar, with its buttery crust, glistening lemony filling and light dusting of powdered sugar. It is such a simple, friendly little dessert that travels well in Tupperware (especially to the office in my lunch bag), shows well at parties and can be sold for ridiculous amounts of money at community bake sales (some little Trump-in-the-making was charging $4.50 a pop for those suckers at the last school bake sale I attended. Outrageous… But I still bought it.)

This incredibly simple dessert has relatively few ingredients, is easy to make and yet somehow still lends its maker the glow of the Master Baker, that ‘Martha Stewart’ aura that can get us into trouble when people assume we are much more capable around a KitchenAid mixer and rolling pin than we actually are.

Lemon Bars
derived from Allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 
15 Min

Cook Time: 
40 Min

Ready In: 
55 Min

Servings : 
36

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 c softened butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• Dash of salt

Filling

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 4 lemons, juiced (around 2/3 c)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a bowl, blend  butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch baking dish.

1. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (or until golden, baking time depends on your oven). In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 6 tablespoons flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice. Pour over the baked crust.
2. Bake for an additional 20 min in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool

Notes:

Lemons – Meyer lemons are a truly delicious variety of lemon. In general, I’m not an ingredient snob and strongly feel that delicious food can be made with less than ideal ingredients (just ask the French…  and their garden snails), but when it comes to making lemon desserts, you will get yourself halfway to Awesome merely by using Meyer lemons.

Additions – You can get creative with fruity additions to these, perhaps drizzling some raspberry sauce over them before baking, you could also substitute lemons with limes, I imagine.

The Summer Solstice approaches and what better way to celebrate than these little bites of sunshine? Make some lemon bars, eat them outside, enjoy them with a golden, sweet wine, a Muscat or a Riesling perhaps, for me.